Rocket

First Impression

My friend Sarah kept talking about this free app she used to track her assignments, so I finally downloaded Rocket on my iPhone 14. I was pretty confused that it was made by a bank, but hey, it’s free. Setting up my first project for my “History 101 Research Paper” was super easy. The layout is clean and simple, no confusing menus. I threw in some tasks like “Find primary sources” and “Outline introduction” right before my Wednesday study group. For a second, I thought I’d finally found the perfect, no-cost organizer. That feeling didn’t last the whole week.

What It Does Well

For just keeping lists, Rocket works. I have all my different class projects separated, which stops my brain from melting. The due date feature is the best part. I can see everything I have due this week in the calendar view, which saved me last Sunday when I realized a short response post was due Monday at 9 AM. Adding quick notes to a task is also handy. For my group project, I pasted the Google Doc link right into the task note so I wouldn’t lose it. It’s really just a digital notepad with dates, and for a student on a budget, that’s often all I need to stop forgetting things.

Where It Falls Short

The app starts to feel clunky when you try to do anything more than the basics. Trying to move tasks around in my list to prioritize them is a fight. I’ll drag an item and it just snaps back, or it won’t register my finger at all. It’s frustrating when you’re in a hurry. Also, I really wish tasks could repeat. I have a weekly discussion post every Friday, and I have to manually recreate that task every single time. I emailed support about it. They got back to me a few days later saying they might add it someday, but for now, it’s a manual job. Little stuff like that adds up.

Is It Worth the Price?

It’s free, so you can’t complain too much. For a student who just needs a simple, ad-free place to dump deadlines and to-dos, it’s worth a download. You’re not getting fancy connections to your school email or automated reminders. It’s a bare-bones tool. If your system is just scribbles on a physical planner, this is a good free step up. But if you’re already used to more powerful apps, you’ll probably find Rocket too limited. For zero dollars, though, it solves the main problem of keeping things in one spot.

Developer & Support

Like I said, it’s weird that a bank made this. It doesn’t feel like a main project for them. I had that one question about repeating tasks, so I used the contact form in the app. I didn’t hear anything for a couple of days and figured they just ignored user emails. Then, on the third day, I got a reply. It was helpful and polite, explaining the feature wasn’t available but was on their list. It wasn’t instant, but they did answer. The app had one update while I was using it, which just said “performance improvements.” It feels maintained, but just barely.

Privacy & Safety

This part made me a little nervous at first because it’s from a bank. I checked the privacy policy, and it seems like the app data is just stored on your device. They aren’t collecting my task lists or anything. Since it’s not a banking app itself, just made by the same company, I felt okay putting my class stuff in there. There’s no login or account, which is actually nice for simplicity. I’m not putting my social security number in here, just my homework, so I’m comfortable with the level of privacy it offers for that purpose.